


Nine-Pointed Star

by Master_Thief_Gray_Shadow



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Fantasy, Gen, RPG elements, also Elder Scrolls probably, there's some stuff inspired by Wizards of the Coast in here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-26 20:49:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6255334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Master_Thief_Gray_Shadow/pseuds/Master_Thief_Gray_Shadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a star falls from the sky, nine adventurers will have to band together to stop an ancient evil from returning to the world and bringing about its end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

When the brightest star in the night fell from the sky, many were watching.

The cleric from her shrine, the bard from her inn, the barbarian from her camp.

The assassin from her hole, the fencer from her post, the druid from her garden.

The mage from her tower, the thief from her rooftop, the warrior from her forge.

When the star fell, they all thought of the world.

Of what it would mean for the world, what sorts of dangers could arise because of the fallen star.

They all wondered if the end was coming.

And they all wondered if it could be stopped.

Each continued on their own journeys, hoping for a clue about what could be done.

None knew that their paths would all cross, and that together they had the power to stop the end.


	2. Reunion at the Crossroads

The forest was starting to feel less cold and foreboding as the blue-haired woman sat by the small campfire, having removed her heavy gauntlets to allow the fire to warm her hands more directly. The flames reflected in her sharp amber eyes as she watched the fire, and occasionally she would reach towards the small pot hanging over it and stir, the smell of the rabbit stew cooking within it eating away at her patience and causing her stomach to make growling noises that she couldn’t be more thankful no one but the forest’s nocturnal residents were around to hear. When the stew reached the right consistency and temperature, she reached into her satchel and pulled out a small wrapped package. Peeling away the stiff paper, she found half a loaf of crusty bread and smiled, putting the bread off to her right side before getting a tin bowl from her bag. Ladling a generous helping of stew into the bowl, she sat back and gazed up at the night sky. Something big was missing from the western sky, and the arrangement of the stars seemed almost alien without it. Without looking she reached over to her right to grab her loaf of bread, and found herself grabbing at the air.

She quickly glanced at her empty hand and saw empty wrappings, and looked up just in time to glance a figure dashing into the darkness of the forest.

“Hey! Get back here!” Setting down her bowl, she grabbed her quiver of arrows and strung her bow in record time. “That was my bread!” She said as she ran off in the thief’s direction. She kept a swift, steady pace, listening for footsteps and scanning the darkness for movement all the while. Weaving between the barren trees, she caught the sound of something trying to climb. With lightning speed she spun in the direction of the noise, nocked an arrow, drew back, and released. Moments later a muffled yelp of surprise rang out through the night. She followed the noise and found a young woman hanging from about two feet up a tree, supported only by an arrow through the hood of her orange-bordered cloak and her own death grip on the trunk. The thief turned her head towards her pursuer as best she could without letting go, allowing the archer to get a good look at her face. Red-orange hair with bangs swept to one side, blue eyes that shone with childlike energy and enthusiasm, and the loaf of bread stuffed into her mouth. All in all it was a rather comical picture, and to her own surprise a familiar one to the woman on the ground.

“Honoka?” The archer said incredulously. Honoka attempted to respond, but the bread muffled her words. The other woman sighed and walked toward the trapped thief, snatching the loaf out of her mouth and glaring. Honoka chewed and swallowed the bit of bread she had managed to bite off before responding.

“Um…hey there, Umi! What are you doing out here in this forest?” Honoka laughed nervously as she spoke, and Umi’s glare only intensified. Umi reached up and yanked the arrow out of the tree trunk. Honoka continued to cling to the tree, so Umi grabbed her by her collar before throwing her onto the ground and continuing to glare. “Y-you recognized me, right? So that means we’re still friends, right?” She said, shuddering under the intense force of Umi’s glare. “Please don’t kill me…” Umi shook her head.

“Honoka, if you wanted the bread that badly you could have just asked me. I would have shared.” Umi’s expression softened rapidly, her gaze sharply dropping in intensity and her lips curling into a warm smile. She extended her hand towards the woman on the ground, and Honoka tentatively grasped it before being pulled up. “You really are a sight for sore eyes,” Umi said warmly. “Come back to my campsite, we can talk there.”

* * *

“So as I was lying completely still under the bridge with the ring in my mouth while they ran across it looking for me, I realized just how much fun I was having, and even though I couldn’t show my face in Llyfrgell again, I knew that this was what I wanted to do,” Honoka finished before taking a big gulp of her stew. “Anyway, that’s how I became a Thief.” Umi glowered.

“So _that’s_ what happened to you?” Umi said. Honoka flinched under Umi’s stare. “Honoka, I thought you ran off into the woods and died.” Honoka smiled guiltily.

“Well, I didn’t!” She declared.

“You idiot,” Umi mumbled as she got up and walked toward a small pile of wood near the edge of the clearing where she had set up camp and grabbed a log. “So what are you doing out here anyway?” She asked as she threw the log onto the fire and sat back down. Honoka looked up at the sky.

“You know that star, the big red one that fell out of the sky about a week ago?” She asked excitedly. Umi raised an eyebrow.

“Let me guess, you’re trying to find the place where it will land, right?” Umi said. Honoka looked back towards Umi.

“Yeah. How did you know?” Now Umi looked at the sky, taking in the placement of the stars now that they could be seen on their own and were no longer outshined by something so ominous and red.

“It was an educated guess,” She said, her gaze not leaving the stars. “I’m out here for the same reason.” Honoka gasped.

“Woooooow, what a weird coincidence!” She said as she looked back at the stars. “Hey Umi, wouldn’t it be funny if Kotori was also out here trying to find where the star will land?”

Moments after Honoka had finished speaking, an explosion rocked the quiet of the night and flocks of birds rose from the trees around the camp. “It came from that way!” Honoka said and pointed. Umi grabbed her sheathed sword from where it lay next to her satchel and discarded armor and pulled it out of its scabbard, then picked up her heater shield and slipped it onto her left arm. She looked over at Honoka, who was fitting a bolt into a crossbow.

“Come on! We need to see what’s going on over there!” Umi said before running off towards where the explosion had come from.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Honoka said as she followed.

The two adventurers navigated the dark forest and eventually came upon two roads that intersected. Off to the side of the crossroads there was a charred, smoking crater, and next to the crater a woman with unusually styled taupe-colored hair was brushing ash and dirt off of her gray and green Mage robes. Umi turned to Honoka.

“Honoka, the next time you think a situation would be funny or ironic if something happened, keep it to yourself,” She growled. Honoka shrank back and grinned nervously.

“Well, I mean, maybe she’s not looking for the star,” Honoka said in an attempt to defend herself. Umi huffed before stepping out of the forest and making her way towards the woman. Honoka shrugged before following her.

“Kotori? Kotori, is that really you?” The woman, Kotori, turned toward where Honoka had called out to her. She shook her head, freeing a cloud of ash from her hair, and blinked a few times.

“Honoka? Umi?” She asked.

“Yup!” Honoka said, stowing her crossbow before folding her arms and smiling brightly.

“It’s really good to see you again,” Umi said as she planted her sword into the ground, her expression warm. Kotori stood still for a few moments, before running up to Honoka and crushing her in a hug.

“Honoka!” She cried, burying her face into Honoka’s shoulder. “I didn’t even know you were alive! I never thought I’d see you again!” Honoka patted Kotori’s back.

“Hey, it’s okay Kotori, I’m here, I’m okay.” Kotori pulled away and sniffled. Honoka beamed at her and wiped a tear from her cheek. Kotori let go of Honoka’s shoulders and turned to Umi, who she wrapped in a much gentler embrace. Umi blushed slightly before awkwardly reciprocating.

“Umi…I thought you were going to settle down and become a blacksmith,” She said, pulling away from the hug to look into Umi’s eyes.

“Well, I decided that I didn’t want to be a blacksmith, so I left Llyfrgell to become a Warrior,” She explained. Kotori looked downward, only to realize that the front of Umi’s off-white tunic was now stained black with charcoal.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry Umi!” Kotori babbled. “I was trying to make a campfire with magic, but I think a toad got into the circle and messed up one of the -”

“Kotori,” Umi said calmly. “It’s okay, really. We’re just glad to have you here.” Umi and Kotori both glanced over at Honoka, who was brushing off the charcoal she had failed to notice on her own dark-colored clothes.

“So anyway,” Honoka said, dusting off her hands, “what are you doing in this forest?”

“Well, I’m tracking that star that fell,” Kotori replied. Umi shot a glare at Honoka.

“Remember what I said?” She reminded grimly.

“Right, right,” Honoka said, putting her hands up defensively.

“What did she say?” Kotori asked.

“She didn’t say anything!” Honoka said quickly, trying to change the subject. “So since you failed to set up a fire, wanna spend the night at Umi’s camp?”

* * *

The one thing no one expected to find when they returned to the clearing was someone going through Umi’s satchel. Yet there someone was, digging through the bag. Only his bare back was visible from where the trio had approached the campsite, covered in strange, intricate symbols tattooed in red and black ink on his deathly pale skin. The adventurers immediately burst from the clearing, Umi getting into an attack stance, Honoka drawing back her crossbow, and Kotori channeling magical energy into the tip of her staff.

“You there!” Umi shouted. “Step away from the bag!” The intruder lifted his head, which was shaven and covered in the same strange tattoos as his back. He turned to look at Umi, revealing his face. The tattoos that covered his head and back were also present on his face, with the largest one, a black disk-like symbol, on his forhead. He stood up and turned around, showing that he wore nothing but a black loincloth, a belt with a dagger strapped to it, and a strange medallion, as well as that nearly every inch of skin on his body was covered in red and black symbols. He pulled out the dagger and rushed at Kotori, but she quickly swung her staff at him and slammed the end of it into his side. A yellow flash went off when the weapon made contact with the man, and he flopped uselessly onto the ground, paralyzed, but still conscious. Umi strode over to where he lay. She knelt down and looked him straight into his solid black eyes.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” She demanded, putting the blade of her sword to his throat.

“I…I cannot…fail…my brothers…” He rasped. “Who are your…brothers…” Umi trailed off as the man began to foam at the mouth. The disk on his forehead turned blood red as veins popped out around it. His eyes rolled back into his head to reveal only bloodshot whites and purple veins throbbed beneath his hairless skin. Blood and spittle flowed from his mouth and Umi stepped backwards in horror as he gave one last choking gasp before his death rattle trailed off into the quiet of the night.

Umi was the one to break the silence. “That was a stun spell, right?” She asked, turning to Kotori. Kotori nodded, her expression fearful.

“It was,” She said shakily. “It shouldn’t have been fatal…” Umi looked downward.

“Well, what’s done is done…what should we do with the body?” Kotori drew a large rectangle in the dirt with her staff and then pointed it at the shape. The soil parted to reveal a hole just deep enough for a body to fit into it.

“We’ll bury him,” She said. They both turned toward where the body was, and Umi facepalmed.

“Honoka…” Umi groaned. Honoka got up from the body and quickly stuffed the amulet she had snatched off of it into a pouch.

“It’s a nice amulet,” she said, “and he’s not using it anymore, so I might as well keep it.”

“She has a point,” Kotori said, looking over at Umi. Umi lowered her hand from her face.

“Well, we should just hurry up and bury him. No sense letting his body just sit around,” Umi said before walking towards the corpse and starting to drag it to the makeshift grave.

* * *

The fire was little more than a few dull red embers, and the sun was beginning to poke out from the horizon. Honoka glanced over at Umi and Kotori, who were both snug and fast asleep in their bedrolls. She shifted her gaze toward the spot near the edge of the clearing where the earth had been disturbed, and the strange thief had been buried. She glanced back at her sleeping friends and wondered how they could fall asleep knowing there was a dead body only twelve feet away. She had been unable to sleep, the unmarked grave disturbing her and keeping her on edge. To distract herself, she glanced down at the amulet she was turning over in her hands. It was extremely shiny and made of nearly pure platinum, if her assessment was correct. It depicted a dragon diving downward, three lines trailing out behind it and meeting where the black thread that formed the necklace passed through a loop on the amulet. The dragon itself was simple, with two wings spread outward, a tail that protruded straight out from its body, and two large ram-like horns that curved outward from its head.

_What is this thing anyway,_ Honoka thought. _It’s worth so much, but I want to know what it’s for._ Honoka looked towards the slowly rising sun, which was dying the sky pink with its early lights, and clenched her fist. _When find a town, I’m gonna get this thing appraised._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference I'm gonna post character sheets at the end of chapters like this. Some of the things listed here may not be familiar, and that's because I made it all up on the spot, so I'll explain. An Attribute is a character's basic build that indicates what they specialize in, with Valor covering Fighter classes, Guile covering Rogue classes, and Arcana covering Magic classes. Special Skills are moves that are unique to each class and cost a set amount of mana to use. Signature Skills are more powerful moves that, like Special Skills, are unique to each class. Unlike Special Skills, however, Signature Skills cost a set percentage of a character's mana bar, so the cost of using the skill increases every time a character's max mana increases. If none of this makes sense to you, just remember: we aren't actually playing an RPG, I'm just writing a silly fanfiction about idols in an RPG world.
> 
> Umi Sonoda
> 
> Attribute: Valor
> 
> Class: Warrior
> 
> Primary Weapon: Longsword
> 
> Secondary Weapon(s): Bow and arrows, dagger
> 
> Other Equipment: Plate armor without helmet, heater shield with blue and gray wave pattern
> 
> Stamina: B
> 
> Defense: S
> 
> Strength: A
> 
> Dexterity: D
> 
> Mana: E
> 
> Luck: C
> 
> Special Skill(s):
> 
> Frag Arrow: Shoots an arrow that bursts into shrapnel after it hits.
> 
> Blade of Surtr: Longsword blade lights on fire to deal fire damage.
> 
> Signature Skill:
> 
> Dragon's Claw Blade (Cost: 60% max mana): Umi's sword sharpens to the point where it can cut through nearly anything, negating all enemy armor and dealing massive damage.
> 
> Honoka Kousaka
> 
> Attribute: Guile
> 
> Class: Thief
> 
> Primary Weapon: Crossbow
> 
> Secondary Weapon(s): Twin dirks
> 
> Other Equipment: Smoke bombs, acid flasks, alchemist's fire, grappling hook
> 
> Stamina: C
> 
> Defense: B
> 
> Strength: D
> 
> Dexterity: S
> 
> Mana: C
> 
> Luck: A
> 
> Special Skill(s):
> 
> Pickpocket: Can take an item held by an enemy to use as her own.
> 
> Bolt Action: Fires an electrically charged crossbow bolt to deal lightning damage.
> 
> Signature Skill:
> 
> Vanishing Act (Cost: 60% max mana): Honoka disappears in a bright burst of light, then attacks unexpectedly from behind for an insta-kill.
> 
> Kotori Minami
> 
> Attribute: Arcana
> 
> Class: Mage
> 
> Primary Weapon: Various spells
> 
> Secondary Weapon(s): Magic staff, dagger
> 
> Other Equipment: Spellbook, talismans, various potions
> 
> Stamina: C
> 
> Defense: C
> 
> Strength: D
> 
> Dexterity: B
> 
> Mana: S
> 
> Luck: B
> 
> Special Skill(s):
> 
> Can use a wide variety of spells with a wide variety of uses, from attacking to creating status buffs to altering the physical world.
> 
> Signature Skill:
> 
> Elemental Storm (Cost: 60% max mana): Kotori unleashes bursts of magic infused with fire, ice, and lightning in a massive wave that can inflict burning, freezing, or paralysis on foes.


	3. The Hunters

The sun’s rays shined down on Umi and Kotori as they walked side by side, making small talk and enjoying the warmth of morning. Honoka followed about ten feet behind them, shuffling like a zombie and occasionally tripping over a log or rock in her exhausted haze. A shout from behind them caused the two in front to look back to find the third member of their party face down on the ground, apparently having tripped over her own two feet now. Umi sighed and Kotori giggled as they walked over to pick her up.

“Honoka, you know this is what happens when you don’t sleep when you’re supposed to,” Umi chided as she lifted Honoka up. Honoka just clung to Umi and began to slowly slide back down towards the ground.

“It was the body…it made me nervous…how could you guys sleep when it was so close?” Honoka grumbled, her face pressed against Umi’s hip and her arms hugging the other woman’s waist. This time Kotori lifted Honoka and slung one of her arms over her shoulder.

“It was under two feet of dirt,” Kotori said as she slowly inched forward while supporting Honoka. “Even if it were to reanimate, it wouldn’t be able to go anywhere.” Honoka yawned loudly.

“It’s not about the thing coming back to life,” She retorted. “It’s just…it’s a dead body. It creeps me out.” Honoka sighed and her head slumped downward. Umi strode over and lifted it back up.

“Honoka, an adventurer shouldn’t be afraid of dead bodies,” Umi said, putting Honoka’s other arm around her own shoulder. “Normal dead bodies can’t hurt you. There are so many other things that…” Umi was interrupted by the sounds of falling trees and snapping twigs, as well as the earth-shaking footsteps of something huge. Umi and Kotori turned their heads to look behind them, towards the source of the noise. The forest shook as whatever was in the woods moved closer to them. With a loud crash the trees blocking their view were knocked aside by a huge, scaly paw. The limb came down onto the ground with a force that nearly knocked the adventurers off of their feet. They could now see what it was attached to, a gigantic horned lizard with green scales that perfectly matched the leaves of the surrounding forest. The lizard opened its enormous jaw, showing its countless teeth, each one a foot long and razor sharp. It growled, the deep, loud rumble chilling Umi and Kotori’s blood and even causing the comatose Honoka to perk up her head in confusion.

“…Can,” Umi finished her previous thought before looking at Kotori, whose panicked expression matched her own.

“It’s a landwyrm!” Kotori said as the beast began to move toward them. “We need to run! Now!” Umi picked up Honoka, who grunted in surprise as she was slung over her shoulder, and she and Kotori took off as fast as they could, the landwyrm’s long black talons barely missing them. It gave chase, ramming down the trees with its bony head as it took massive, earth-shaking bounds in pursuit of its prey. It moved quickly, and both Umi and Kotori looked back in horror to see that the beast was gaining on them.

“Kotori!” Umi yelled, trying her best to keep her pace even as she supported Honoka’s weight. “See if you can distract it!” Kotori nodded before pointing her staff at the approaching monster. The tip of the staff glowed yellow before a bolt of lightning shot from the tip and hit the creature’s shoulder, shocking it and causing it to stop for a moment. It roared loudly before resuming the chase, moving even faster than it had before.

“I think I just made it angry!” Kotori shouted as the landwyrm started catching up to her and Umi. With only about thirty feet between them the monster pounced at them. It landed just behind them and the impact was so great that they were both knocked off their feet, with Honoka slipping from Umi’s grasp and landing a few feet in front of her. The landwyrm was close now, close enough for the adventurers to smell the monster’s breath that stank like rotting meat. It approached Umi, who was closest to it, and opened its jaws in preparation to devour her. “Umi!” Kotori panicked, looking around for something she could use to get the creature’s attention. Umi was paralyzed with fear and could only stare past the beast’s glistening teeth and forked tongue, right down its long, dark throat.

“Hey ugly!” A woman’s voice rang out from the trees behind the monster. It turned its head to find the source of the voice. It scanned the area and sniffed, but it detected nothing. It began to turn its attention back towards Umi when a knife flew out from the forest and lodged itself between the scales on its neck. The landwyrm roared and spun around to charge at the tree the knife came from. As it knocked down the tree with a single claw swipe, a black-clad figure leapt from its branches into another tree, this one much taller and larger than the last. The figure began to climb up the tree, and the beast reared up and grasped the trunk with its forepaws, only to find that in a flash of blue light they were encased in ice. It looked around for the culprit and spotted an auburn-haired woman in an embroidered white cloak holding a spellbook in one hand and pointing at it with the other. The monster attempted to use its back legs to free itself, only to find that they too had been frozen. It roared loudly and bit down on the trunk in an effort to destroy the tree and free itself. While it tried to gnaw through the thick tree the figure who had previously hid in its branches leapt out onto its back and slid down it, snatching the knife in its neck on the way down. Kotori and Umi could now get a better look at her, a small, lithe woman with short sandy-colored hair. When she reached the base of the landwyrm’s tail she dove off and rolled into a crouch. She got up and turned back towards the forest.

“Go get ‘em!” She shouted. Something in the forest began moving towards them. From the underbrush dashed a heavily armored woman carrying a huge broadsword. She turned towards the tree the landwyrm was still frozen to and picked up speed. She held out her sword to the side as she approached the beast from the side at a rapidly quickening pace. She let out a cry as she sliced right through the creature, and its upper half fell limply against the tree trunk as she planted her now blood-stained sword into the ground without looking back. She stood completely still and silent before turning back, her gaze on the shorter woman who had called out.

“That was a stupidly complicated plan,” She said as she picked up her blade and slung it over her caped shoulder before walking towards her. The black-clad woman shrugged.

“Well, I thought it was more fun this way,” She said, scratching the back of her head. The woman who had cast the ice spell stepped toward them. She waved her hand and the ice dissipated, causing the landwyrm’s upper half to fall awkwardly onto its limp lower half before crashing onto the ground.

“It was also messy,” The magic-user said, watching as the ground beneath where the two halves of the landwyrm lay became slowly more saturated with blood.

“Oh, come on, it’s not like they don’t do this kind of thing to each other when they fight,” The black-clad woman defended. The girl with the broadsword sighed.

“I’m a Champion, I could’ve taken it by myself,” She said. “I would’ve made a clean kill. Clean kills are good, there’s less risk of damaging organs. Speaking of which,” She said before walking over to the creature’s upper half and making an incision in its chest with her sword. As she began to dissect the beast’s remains, the remaining two turned their attention to the other trio of adventurers, who were still lying on the ground in stunned silence. Well, except for Honoka, who was still asleep.

“Hey!” The one in black shouted as she and the magic-user walked towards them. “Are you okay?” She looked down at Honoka. “Is _she_ okay?”

“We’re fine, and she’s just sleeping,” Kotori replied, getting up and bowing. “Thank you for saving us, by the way. My name is Kotori, the one in the armor is Umi, and the sleeping girl is Honoka.”

“It’s not a problem,” The one in black said. “My name’s Tsubasa,” She said, indicating towards herself, “this is Anju,” She gestured to the woman next to her, “and the one over there is Erena,” She pointed to the woman who was currently busy digging around it the landwyrm’s chest.

“Why is she sleeping?” Anju asked, kneeling down by Honoka and placing a hand on her forehead. “Is she sick?”

“She’s not sick,” Umi said while glaring over at Honoka. “She just didn’t sleep last night when she was supposed to, so now she’s too tired to do anything.” Anju gave a ‘hmm’ before placing her hands on both sides of Honoka’s face. A white light emanated from her hands for a moment before she removed them, and Honoka shot bolt upright.

“Guys, guys, I just had the weirdest dream! We were being chased by this big lizard, and then it tried to eat Umi, and then some other people came along and…” Honoka stopped talking when she spotted Tsubasa. “Wait! You were one of the people in my dream!” She said and pointed.

“That wasn’t a dream, Honoka, that actually happened,” Umi said. She turned her attention to Anju. “What did you do to her?”

“It’s just a little spell to wake you up a bit if you haven’t gotten enough sleep,” Anju responded, smiling sweetly. “It’s something Wizards like myself use to stay awake when studying. It wears off in about six hours though, so you should keep an eye out for a place to stay.” Honoka nodded before getting up and stretching.

“Hey Tsubasa,” Erena called over from the landwyrm’s corpse. She held up a huge dark red organ with blood vessels sticking out of it, the monster’s heart. “How much do you think this is worth?”

“Sixty-six hundred gold pieces,” Before Tsubasa could speak, Honoka had answered the question. “Something in that area.” All eyes were on Honoka now. “What? Am I wrong?” She asked defensively.

“No, actually, you were pretty close,” Tsubasa said, a smile spreading across her face. “The heart’s value is six-thousand six-hundred and eighteen gold pieces.” She extended a black-gloved hand to Honoka. “It’s nice to meet another rogue.”

“Honoka, Tsubasa, what’s going on? How do you know the value of the heart?” Kotori asked, watching as Honoka enthusiastically shook Tsubasa’s hand.

“I’m a Thief, so I can make a good estimate about the value of an object just by looking at it,” Honoka cheerfully answered as she let go of Tsubasa’s hand.

“And as a Larcener, I can tell the exact value of an object just by looking at it,” Tsubasa responded and folded her arms. Honoka nodded before her eyes widened and she started digging around in her pack.

“You can tell the exact value of an object, right?” Honoka asked Tsubasa, who nodded in response. “Then can you tell me how much this is worth?” She pulled out the amulet she had snatched the night before and dangled it in Tsubasa’s face. Tsubasa just stared at it with a shocked expression before grabbing it away from Honoka.

“Where did you find this?” She asked, her tone becoming suddenly very serious.

            “There was a man trying to steal from our campsite,” Umi began, a drop of sweat running down the side of her face. “She took it off of him.” Tsubasa turned the amulet over in her hands.

“What did he look like?” Anju asked them, her voice also gaining a noticeable edge.

“He was bald and pale and had a lot of weird markings all over his body,” Kotori answered, trembling slightly. “Why are you asking?”

“What happened to him?” Tsubasa asked, ignoring Kotori’s question. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the anulet.

“The mark on his head changed color and he just kind of…died,” Honoka responded, glancing around nervously. “It was really freaky.”

“He must have activated his Killing Seal,” Anju muttered to Tsubasa. Tsubasa just shoved the amulet into her pocket before focusing her attention back onto the other three adventurers.

“This is something extremely dangerous, something you shouldn’t be involved in,” Tsubasa said in a grave voice. “Something terrible is happening, and it would be best if you stayed out of it. We’ll handle things, you just go on with your lives.” She turned to Erena, who was stuffing some of the landwyrm’s organs into a large sack. “Erena! We’re leaving! There’s been a change of plans!” She called out. Erena got up and slung the sack over her shoulder. She followed Tsubasa and Anju as they retreated deeper into the forest, until only Honoka, Kotori, and Umi were left, along with the remains of the landwyrm. Honoka blinked in confusion.

“What was that about?” She asked frantically. “Why were they so bothered by the amulet?” She turned to Umi, then to Kotori.

“Who knows,” Kotori said with a sigh. “But we shouldn’t dwell on it too much. We need to keep moving.” The three of them dusted themselves off and once again set off on a westward path through the thickening forest.

“Do you think we’ll see them again?” Umi asked as they pushed through the underbrush. Kotori looked up at the sky through a tiny gap in the forest’s canopy.

“I don’t know, but I’d like to see them,” She answered wistfully. “I kind of liked them.”

“Hey!” Honoka shouted in sudden realization. “They took the amulet! And they didn’t even tell me what it was worth!”


End file.
